Vikalos smiled to himself as he finished what he was doing, drying his fur with a towel after exiting the Thantir’s decontamination showers. Sure, they had special blow-dryers to dry folks off, and Vikalos could manipulate fire and instantly raise the ambient temperature to dry himself completely, but he did like to use a towel. It was better for the vast amount of fur that covered his body.
Admittedly, the purification Vikalos had had just performed had been quite messy. An old Life Goddess, who had run into a slither of the Nekro-Kinisis strain. Thankfully, Arkay had been on hand to provide some of his anti-corruption blood, but it turned out his blood was both far more effective and far more acidic than Elkay’s blood, which they normally used.
Still, the Life Goddess had pulled through, and she was giving Vikalos some flirty looks as she exited the public decontamination showers and realized Vikalos was currently shirtless. He was still wearing a pair of shorts to hide his modesty (the majority of the Thantir really didn’t need to know what Vikalos was packing down there) but he’d taken off his sleeveless jacket, his vest top, his scarf and the detachable parts of his armour and stuck them all in a decon pod to be cleaned. Didn’t matter, Vikalos owned twenty identical orange jackets with the star-speckled trim, as well as a collection of vests and scarfs.
“You taken?” the Life Goddess asked. “I don’t see a ring.”
Vikalos grinned, then opened a small hammer space and pulled out two small blades, one blue, silver and cut like a diamond, one green and leaf-shaped. “I am, actually.”
“Ah. You… are married to a pair of Beh’ena?”
“Beh’enu, but yes.”
The Life Goddess paused, glanced around, then shrugged. “Fair enough. Either way, thank you for your assistance. I appreciate it. Who do I speak to to arrange payment?”
Vikalos pointed to the offices in the main waiting area. “Head in there. One of the little armour kids will sort you out.”
With a bow, the Life Goddess headed off. Vikalos went back to drying his fur, then wandered over to the canteen, where both his partners were sitting, awkwardly muttering to each other.
“Hello, dearies!” Vikalos smiled yet again as he grabbed himself a drink and sat down. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want to admit what’s up…” Itaviir whispered. “Why aren’t you wearing anything?”
“Just got out of the showers and wanted to dry naturally!” Vikalos beamed, before pausing and looking around a bit. Turned out, a lot of folks were stealing glances of Vikalos’s body. Vikalos realized he’d never really wandered around shirtless before, so everyone was surprised to see how buff he was underneath his clothes and armour. Even if he was covered in fur, he was muscular.
“Oh good…” Galyn kept his voice low. “Because… we… uh… um… have a… an offer… a thing to ask of you…”
Vikalos eyed Galyn, not sure where all this sudden nervousness was coming from. “Is something wrong?”
“Galyn wants to brush your fur,” Itaviir explained. “He thinks it would be a nice, relaxing thing for us to do together.”
Vikalos glanced at Itaviir, then eyed Galyn some more. “Why are you so embarrassed about that?”
“Itaviir thinks it’s stupid.”
“I don’t think it’s stupid, I just don’t know how to brush fur, and I’ve never, ever seen Vikalos brush his fur, in the many, many year-strings we’ve been together. Although, I am very glad you stopped shaving your fur off, Vikalos. You look so much better with the fur than without. Without, you look… a bit like a bladeless, crownless Beh’en.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No, but it is not what Galyn and I fell in love with. Also, Galyn is right, we should brush your fur.”
Itaviir stood up, then lifted Vikalos to his feet. Suddenly, in a single, swift action, Itaviir picked Vikalos up and threw him over his shoulder, before stomping up to the sleeping quarters, to Vikalos’s room. Galyn sneaked off, grabbed the appropriate equipment (mostly borrowing some hair brushes off Phovos), ignored the snickers from the Thantir who had been watching them, then followed Itaviir and Vikalos.
Vikalos couldn’t help but giggle as Itaviir threw him onto the bed. He expected Itaviir to be warm and start removing his armour, but instead Itaviir sat him up, sat down next to Vikalos, then waited for Galyn to arrive. Galyn swiftly appeared, closed the door, handed Itaviir a brush, handed a cold drink to Vikalos then joined them on the bed.
Itaviir hesitated for a moment. “I have just realized, I have no idea how to brush someone’s fur.”
“Just gently pull the brush in the direction that Vikalos’s fur flows, and don’t try to pull too hard if you find a knot,” Galyn replied. But he too was a little hesitant because he didn’t quite know where to start.
Eventually, Galyn started brushing the fur on the back of Vikalos’s neck, just under his head plate (one of the few pieces of armour that was fully attached to him). Itaviir followed suit, brushing Vikalos’s shoulder. Both actions immediately caused Vikalos to shudder, which instantly made the two Beh’ens stop.
“Did we hurt you?” Itaviir asked.
“Noooo, that was… way more pleasurable than I expected!” Vikalos grinned. “Keep on going.”
Galyn and Itaviir glanced at each other, then went back to brushing Vikalos’s fur. He was clearly enjoying it, and Vikalos’s eyes slowly closed as his partners worked. Galyn focused on Vikalos’s neck and upper back, but Itaviir gently brushed down Vikalos’s upper arms and lower back, before starting on his tail. The spot on Vikalos’s back just above where his tail started seemed to solicit a lot of pleasurable shudders, so Itaviir would routinely go back there, even if it wasn’t particularly knotty.
“Why have we never done this before?” Vikalos muttered under his breath. “This is lovely.”
“To be fair, we never had any members of the Thantir who even owned a brush up until a couple of years ago…” Itaviir frowned. “That and most sects out here are rather… cold and loveless.”
“Who would have thought that picking up Retvik and Litvir would have turned us from yet another generic navigational sect that dabbled in Decayling capture to… what we do now…” Galyn added. “It wasn’t all smooth sailing though, and I think, as bad as this sounds, us going to save Kal after they got attacked by Ahkron, and me getting stabbed by that bastard and nearly dying, that kickstarted all of this.”
Vikalos abruptly turned around. “You nearly DIED?”
“I was stabbed in the chest by a Voidborn that was well known for turning universes into trinkets. I did nearly die, and it’s a miracle Phovos and Litvir managed to save me. And that they got me to Kal in time to stop a Kenic Spore from exploding inside my body.”
“Wow…” Vikalos frowned. “I… I didn’t think things were that dire… Maybe I should have arranged to come back sooner…”
Galyn shrugged, then turned Vikalos around and went back to brushing him. “You weren’t to know. And we weren’t really to know either. But everything turned out fine in the end, and Itaviir and I have finally warmed up again, after year-string after year-string of being frigid.”
“Mhm…” Itaviir nodded in agreement, brushing the knottier parts of Vikalos’s long tail. “We have mellowed out. Life is genuinely good now, even if Galyn and I are just glorified guards. And on top of that? The Thantir have made a new name for themselves, and we’ve done some amazing good throughout our entire pentacluster. For once, I can say I am truly happy and proud.”
“Well, you are both absolutely correct there…” Vikalos began to relaxing. “And I am so glad you are both genuinely happy. I always feared you’d be always stuck in that empty, Phantai soldier mindset. Still… I think we ought to treat ourselves.”
“How so?” Itaviir asked.
“We never went on holiday, together, just the three of us. And now that things are nice and calm, and Arkay seems insistent on doing your jobs for you, we have a chance.”
“Where would we even go?” Galyn tutted. “I am NOT going to some stupid Life Goddess oasis. I learned my damn lesson.”
“There is a resort in the Justarian Circle that might be nice?” Vikalos suggested. “Lots of nice places there. And, being a former Justarian Lord, I can… put my infamy to good use.”
“We will consider it!” Itaviir smiled. “But in the mean time, I am enjoying this fur brushing. Can we just do this for a bit?”
“Oh, of course! I am enjoying it as well…” Vikalos paused and shuddered pleasurably, just as Galyn brushed the tickly spot on the back of his neck. “We need to do this on the regular. I love you two.”
“Heh… We love you too, dear…”